Matatu Saccos Exploiting Commuters Following 16% Tax Increase on Fuel

It is already in public domain that fuel prices have increased following the implementation of 16 percent Value Added Tax on petroleum products and Kenyans are feeling the heat.

It is, however, the exploitive nature of motorists and a number of Saccos that portray them to be similar to the Government they are crying foul about, or even worse.

Matatu operators are reaping where they have not sown and taken advantage of the 16 percent tax increase to force passengers to part with more than double the usual bus fare yet fuel prices have not doubled! This is thievery in broad daylight.

This is not the first time the cost of fuel has gone up and neither is it the first time matatu operators are exploiting fellow common citizens struggling for survival, a liter of diesel used to sell 77 shillings in January 2016, just last month the same cost 103.25 shillings and is now at 115.08 shillings after the 16 percent tax increase.

The matatu industry is infamous for exploiting its customers whenever they dim fit, these take place especially when their customers are desperate for the services. Fare hikes can be triggered by any trivial factors ranging from time, rain and imagined high traffic.

One minute the conductor could be charging 30 shillings and the next minute it is 100 shillings if the rain dares drop, and irrespective of where the fare price change finds you, in or out of the matatu, you will have to pay the 100 shillings or risk serious bullying.

Time is a major factor in the matatu industry because it defines how high your bus fare can get with peak hours costing almost a double of the off-peak hours in most matatus.

There are a number of Transport Saccos that have implemented measures to curb this menace but a number of greedy conductors in conjunction with their drivers have frustrated the efforts by scribbling on the contacts indicated on notices for the customers to relay their complaints.

Customers in such Matatus’ dig into their pockets and pay out of fear of insults and outright bullying by the conductors and this only worsens their predicament as the operators feel they have a higher hand and hence exploit the commuters.

Ours is a man eat man society and it seems it is unto each his own as long as that extra coin is pocketed, we have become nothing short of the politicians we loathe so much. The human race may soon be extinct if we do not control by putting humanity before our greed.